It is a world built on pillars that descend into hell itself, yet there is no heaven above to look to. A world where pain and death await all, with little to no salvation from the horrors of the world. There is no true peace, no true saviour. Dwarf fortress is a game about an eternal struggle that you can never, ever win.

Dwarves develop low-light vision (plump helmets are packed with beta carotene!) and their facial follicles become sensitive to the motions that a breeze produces against their beards, which allows them to tell where tunnels turn.

As they go deeper, their eyes become less relied upon, and they adapt further to rely on their whisker-based folli-cation.

These eventually become so sensitive that, should a dwarf venture outside, the wind is the equivalent of multicolored and varying strobe lights. This is as aggravating to a dwarf's folli-cation as a Pink Floyd show seen while sober is to our sight, up to the point of causing nausea.

A *bloated tuber biscuit* has just been awarded!

Logged

Quote from: Girlinhat

When all you've got is an adjustable spanner and an entire freight warehouse of terrifying cogs and gears, everything looks like "just a prototype".

Quote from: ThatAussieGuy

You all turned Swordthunders into a bastion of madness that seems to warp in on itself under its own hatred of sanity. I'm so happy!

"Having been equipped with tracking collars so their migration and survival in the wild can be measured, the young Sea Serpent is released into the wild. It is hoped that this captive breeding program will boost their terribly low population numbers and eventually see them removed from the endangered species list..."

Dorfs live symbiotically with quick-growing, bioluminescent algae, lichen and fungi that provide just enough light to see things. Miners spend long enough underground that their picks are coated with the stuff, providing them with their own personal and functional lantern. As they dig, they are also spreading the spores and mycelium of the symbiotes so that they quickly establish in the newly-mined caverns. When the haulers arrive to cart the chunks of stone away, there is already enough stuff growing on the walls and ceiling that they can see.